Overcoming Seed Dormancy of Ceanothus velutinus and ......Overcoming Seed Dormancy of Ceanothus...
Transcript of Overcoming Seed Dormancy of Ceanothus velutinus and ......Overcoming Seed Dormancy of Ceanothus...
Overcoming Seed Dormancy of Ceanothus velutinus and Cercocarpus montanusAsmita Paudel1, Youping Sun1, Larrry A. Rupp1, John Carman1, and Stephen L. Love2
1Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322
2University of Idaho, Aberdeen, ID 83210
Introduction
Objectives
Materials and Methods
Results
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
References
Native plants are useful for a wide range of conservation practices from ecological
restoration to the rehabilitation of disturbed lands.
Ceanothus velutinus (snowbrush ceanothus) and Cercocarpus montanus (Alder leaf
mountain mahogany) are two Utah native plants and have potential for use in water-
efficient landscape.
Little information is available on their propagation methods.
Determine the effective scarification temperature, stratification time, and suitable
gibberellic acid (GA3) concentration for breaking the double dormancy (physical and
physiological) of C. velutinus seeds.
Determine the optimal stratification time and the effective GA3 concentration for
breaking the physiological dormancy of C. montanus seeds.
Experiment I: Seed germination of Ceanothus velutinus
Collected at an elevation of 975 meter, Lincoln county, Montana (Native Seed Foundation)
Experimental conditions:
• Completely randomized design (CRD)
• Number of petri dishes as replication
Native plants
Save biodive
rsity
Food for wild animals
Reclamation of
soil
Water conservation
Hot water treatment at 90 ºC and stratification for 60 or 90 days was effective in
breaking seed dormancy of C. velutinus. Furthermore, GA3 also helped to increase
seed germination rate.
For C. montanus seeds, stratification for 60 days and GA3 treatment at 50 mg/l was
helpful to break seed dormancy.
This experiment established a successful method for optimizing seed germination
which is crucial to introduce native plants in the landscape and conserve our most
important natural resource, water.
USDA NIFA Hatch project UTA01381, New Faculty Start-Up Funds from the Office of Research and
Graduate Studies, the Center for Water-Efficient Landscaping, Utah Agricultural Experiment Station at Utah State University.
Experiment II: Seed germination of Cercocarpus montanus
Collected from Colorado (Sheffield’s Seed Co)
Similar methods to experiment I except scarification was not performed
Experiment I: Seed germination of Ceanothus velutinus
Germination percent increased with the scarification temperature (p < 0.0001).
Stratification time and GA3 treatment also had positive effect on seed germination (p <
0.0001).
Scarification at 90 ℃, 60 days stratification, and 500 mg/l GA3 had the greatest
germination percent of 74.2 ± 2%.
Experiment II: Seed germination of Cercocarpus montanus
Seed germination test:
Environmental growth chamber at 25 ℃ and a 16-hour photo period for 2 weeks
Stratification for longer period (p < 0.0001) and gibberellic acid treatment (p < 0.0321)
increased the germination percent.
Seeds dipped in 50 mg/l of GA3 and stratified for 60 days had the greatest germination
percent of 64.3 ± 3.6%.
Bonner, F.T. 2008. Seed biology. The woody plant seed manual. Agriculture Handbook 727:
3-37. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Washington, DC.
Rosner L.S., J.T. Harrington, D.R. Dreesen, and L. Murray 2003. Overcoming dormancy in
New Mexico mountain mahogany seed collections. Journal of Range Management 56(2).
Rupp, L. and A. Wheaton. 2014. Nurturing native plants: a guide to vegetative propagation
of native woody plants in Utah. All Current Publications. Paper 797.
Treatments
Scarification temperature 50, 70, and 90 ℃
Gibberellic acid (GA3) 0, 50, 250, and 500 mg/l
Stratification time 30, 60, or 90 days
Treatments
Gibberellic acid (GA3) 0, 50, 250, and 500 mg/l
Stratification time 30, 60, or 90 days
Fig. 2: Cleaned C. velutinus seeds (A), scarification using a hot water bath (B), seeds in ice water (C), GA3 treatment (D), and cold moist stratification (E).
Fig. 3: Germinated C. velutinus seeds (A), germination after scarification, GA3 treatment and stratification for 30 (B), 60 (C), and 90 days (D).
Fig. 4: Germinated C. montanus seeds (A), germination after scarification, GA3 treatment and stratification for 30 (B), 60 (C), and 90 days (D).
B
Fig. 1: Ceanothus velutinus seeds (A) and Cercocarpus montanus seeds (B).
A B
A B C
D E
A
D
A B
C